


Paint Me Envy

by DragonSilk



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Kidnapping, Minor Violence, Reader-Insert, Romance, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2017-11-23 14:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 17,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/623176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSilk/pseuds/DragonSilk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seto Kaiba is nothing if not paranoid and possessive. Which might not be such a problem if he weren't too stubborn to admit it.</p><p>Or too stubborn to apologize.</p><p>Seto Kaiba/Reader</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Boy, You Know Jealousy Is A Killer

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor am I making any profit off this work.
> 
> Chapter lengths vary. Some chapters are short, and some are on the longer side. It's completed and twenty-two chapters long, so it's a matter of editing them.
> 
> This was inspired by the song "Paint Me Envy" by School Boy Humor. Chapter titles are all taken from the song.  
> Enjoy?

You grabbed his arm, your nails doing their best to dig into his skin. He might be Seto Kaiba, but you weren't going to let him just walk away from you like this. 

“What is _wrong_ with you?” you hissed at him. He was still walking but forcing him to drag you slowed him down by a bit. 

“I could ask you the same question.” 

“No.” He had no reason at all to be so irrationally angry with you. “ _No_. You could, but it would be unwarranted.” 

“Would it?” He turned on you, a ferocious animal, completely enraged. Your hand was forced off his arm, and his fingers wrapped, vise-like, around your wrist. It hurt, but you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that. “I saw you having a delightful dinner last night. Who is he?” 

“You think I'm _cheating_ on you? **That's** what this is about? Oh you're such a goddamn idiot, Seto.” You didn't know if you were more upset or pissed off. You'd been dating him for _months_ already, and he still didn't trust you. It was pathetic. 

He grabbed your chin and pulled you closer. “And you're a slut.” He released his hold on you and took off again. 

“No, Seto.” You beat him to the door and blocked it off. “You do not get to storm into my home, yell at me for no reason, and then leave. I refuse to take this from you.” 

“And how much do you take from your other men?” 

That was the final straw. As much as you loved the man, you couldn't be with someone who didn't trust you. “Get out. It's over Kaiba.” You opened the door and glared at him. 

"With pleasure," he hissed as he walked past you. 

Before you slammed the door behind him, you called out, “And that man from last night? He's my _cousin_. I was going to introduce the two of you tonight.” You threw the door shut with all your strength, and the resounding slam made you feel a little bit less like crying.


	2. She's Packing an Attitude

The next day, your doorbell rang as you were getting ready for work. You answered the door, ready to tell Kaiba to piss off, but it was just a delivery boy. A delivery boy from the bakery that you loved, holding a box of cookies for you. 

“Is there a note?” 

“Uhhm, yeah.” The delivery boy clearly wanted you to just take the cookies from him, but as much as you wanted them, they probably tasted like guilt and stupidity. He gave you the note, trying to give you the box as well, but you only took the note. You opened it, and you couldn't honestly say that you were surprised by its contents at all. 

_S.K._ That was it. Just his initials. Which, under normal circumstances was okay, you never expected notes marked with 'love' or anything, but right now, an apology would have been nice. 

“I refuse to accept this package.” You dropped the note onto the box. 

“C'mon lady! What am I supposed to do with it?!” 

You had sympathy for the kid and decided to take the box. “Fine, but if anyone makes any orders for this residence in the next few days, tell them to piss off.” 

“Sure, whatever you say lady.” The kid was already leaving. Clearly he'd figured out that you weren't going to be tipping him. 

You did your best to ignore the smell of delicious, warm cookies. You weren't going to eat any of them. You were sure that he would know. 

“I guess I have a stop to make on my way to work,” you mused to yourself. 

\-----

On the way to work, you stopped at Kaiba Corp. The security guards and secretaries all knew you by face so you were able to move through the building completely unaccosted. You went straight for Kaiba's office and found yourself at his assistant's desk. 

She smiled at you cheerfully. “Mr. Kaiba told me to send you right in if you happened to come by!” 

You were already angry, but the assistant's words just multiplied your fury. Did he really think that you were so cheap that cookies would win you back? Did he think you would come skipping into his office and fling yourself into his arms? 

“Mr. Kaiba can hang himself.” You dropped the box onto her desk. “Do me a favor and give these to him.” 

Then you left while the assistant was still confused. No need to explain anything to her. She'd probably figure it out eventually. Even if she didn't, it was none of her business anyway. 

His assistant must have given him the box right away because the elevator hadn't even reached the ground floor before your cell was ringing. You glanced at the screen, and sure enough, it was displaying _his_ name. So you hit the 'ignore' button. 

Now the trick was going to be getting out of his building before he pulled a stunt like asking his security team to detain you. That would be irritating. 

Then a voice boomed through the speakers in the elevator. “Pick up your damn phone!” 

Everyone in the elevator knew that voice, and they all nervously grabbed for their phones. They were probably praying that they weren't the person he was yelling at. You looked for a camera to flip off, knowing that he was probably watching you right this second, but it was hidden, and you couldn't find it. 

So when your phone went off again, you dramatically hit the answer button, and then threw it back into your purse to make a statement. He could talk to your chapstick. 

When the elevator dinged on the bottom floor, you were the very first person out, and you nearly ran out of the building. There was no sense in staying in the enemy's lair for any longer than needed. 

\-----

You received presents every single day after that. Each more expensive than the last, but only with a note signed 'SK' and all his voicemails seemed to consist of yelling at you for being stubborn. So you continued to send the presents back to him. This went on for about a week and a half before you got irritated with his behavior. 

You called up some friends and asked them if they wanted to go out clubbing. You would tell that conceited bastard exactly where he could shove all his expensive guilt presents.


	3. She's Dressed to Kill; You Better Stop Staring

Your friends were all eager to go out with you. Since your relationship with _that man_ had become public, you'd stopped going out drinking and partying with them. Not because your boyfriend didn't approve or anything, but simply because you really, really hated the paparazzi. With the sort of passionate hatred that tended to inspire violence. 

So you simply avoided places that the paparazzi frequented. Bars, nightclubs, high class restaurants. Places that your boyfriend hated in the first place for essentially the same reason. 

Except he wasn't your boyfriend anymore, and you were going to have to get used to that. 

Of course, the world didn't know that yet. You **had** considered telling all the news stations and papers that you'd broken up with him, but for the moment, you were very glad that you had refrained. Yes, it was a bit irritating that people still cared about the clothes you wore and where you bought your morning coffee, but tonight, you planned to take advantage of that. 

You were going to get your group of friends into the hottest club in Domino. A club full of the obscenely rich and obscenely famous. And you were going to get them in for free. 

Nobody said no to the girlfriend of Seto Kaiba. Facing the wrath of a vengeful god was more appealing. 

Perhaps you should send him an email or something. 

_Dear Jackass, I used your name to my advantage for the first time today. -Your Ex._

P.S. You really should send me back all the clothes I kept in your closet. Unless you've decided to dress in drag. In which case, yellow is not your color so you should have no problem sending back my yellow dress at least... 

You discarded that mental letter. You'd gotten too carried away with it, and Seto would never believe that you hadn't taken advantage of the fact that you were dating him before now. 

Even though it was true that you couldn't stop people from treating you differently just because of who you happened to be dating, you had never advertised who you were. 

Tonight, well, tonight you were going to advertise it all over the place. You'd show him what a superficial girl really looked and acted like. 

\-----

You dressed up for the occasion in a tiny little dress that he'd given you. One that he'd told you to never wear without him. You thought he might appreciate seeing it in tomorrow's papers. You even made sure to throw on your sexiest heels. Perhaps you'd make headlines. 

You and your friends got into the club easily enough. You just walked up to the bouncer and flashed him your ID. He'd recognized you after that and had let your entire group in free of charge, just like you'd expected. 

Someone must have told the manager that you'd actually shown up at his club because he'd appeared by your side almost instantly. You were known for your propensity to stay out of the public eye, and it was rumored that you were almost as antisocial as your boyfriend ( _ex_ , you reminded yourself, _ex-boyfriend_ ). 

“Will Mr. Kaiba be joining you tonight?” The possibility of talking to your ~~boyfriend~~ _ex_ was probably the only reason he'd been complimenting you for the past minute. 

You flashed a grin at him. “I don't think so. He's got a meeting.” You didn't know if that was true or not. He probably did have a meeting, but he definitely would not be joining you. So it was half true at least. 

Which was for the best. You were going to dance with as many different guys as you could manage. Though you'd have to be careful not to go too far. While it would irritate Seto to an insane degree to see that you'd spent a night out partying, it would ruin your reputation if the public thought you partied too much. It was a thin line that you were walking, but you'd always been a clever girl. 

So you smiled and winked at cameras, carried a cute little drink (that you actually didn't happen to be drinking, but it was on the house, and it would make a certain man angry to see you with alcohol) around, and talked to all sorts of people. You did encounter the occasional businessmen who wanted to talk to your boyfriend, but whenever that happened, you just walked away without saying anything. You never got involved with anything related to Kaiba Corp, and besides, it was a night to be out socializing and having fun.


	4. I Wish You Could See

You should have been alarmed the next morning when you woke up to the sound of a door slamming shut. Your front door probably, which really should have made you shoot out of bed, ready to brandish the nearest object at any intruders. 

You just couldn't work up the energy to care. Your bed was so warm, and you were so tired. 

Then Seto stormed into your room, and you were ashamed to say that you were relieved that you wouldn't have to get out of bed to deal with burglars. Though how he'd gotten in was... not a mystery. 

“I forgot that you have keys to my apartment.” Your voice came out muffled and sleepy, but you were sure that he could hear you. “I don't suppose you're here to give them back?” 

“We need to talk.” His voice was strained, which meant that he was angry and trying not to show it. It also meant that he would probably explode given the slightest instigation. 

You were never the best at refraining from instigation. “So, that's a 'no' to giving back the keys? I suppose I should change my locks soon then.” 

“Would you just shut up and listen to me?” He must have really been on edge. Normally it took you longer than _that_ to get him to explode. It didn't really matter though, you were used to all phases of his anger, and he really wasn't that scary anymore. The worst he'd ever done to you was leave bruises on your body, and that had been during some pretty great sex so you couldn't complain. 

“You know, that's the problem right there,” you drawled. “You think that _talking_ means that you get to talk to me and I have to listen. It wouldn't hurt if you actually let me do the talking too sometimes. Not that I think you even know **how** to listen.” That last part had been muttered to yourself but he'd probably heard it. He had such good hearing that it was scary. 

“Fine,” he snapped. “Do you have an explanation for THIS then?” A newspaper was thrown into your lap, and you unfolded it to find a picture of yourself right on the cover. Score! Though the headline did read, “Wild Night Out For Mrs. Kaiba!” which was mildly insulting. You _weren't_ his missus and you **did** have your own name. 

Then a detail in the picture caught your attention, and all your thoughts of taunting Seto flew out the window. “WHO THE HELL PHOTOSHOPPED A RING ONTO MY FINGER?!” You were enraged. This sort of nonsense was **exactly** why you really hated the paparazzi. How dare they pretend that you were wearing an engagement ring! 

“You weren't wearing a ring last night?” He seemed to be mollified by that fact. Idly you wondered what had been going through his mind when he'd seen this photo to get him so worked up. 

You were still pretty pissed off about the picture though. “Hell NO!” 

Then he was on his phone, dialing some number. “It's Kaiba, get your boss on the phone NOW.” There was silence for a moment, and you wondered who he was calling. “Print a retraction or I'll run you out of business. No, my _girlfriend_ wasn't wearing a ring last night so don't give me any bullshit.” 

Then he hung up, and all you could think to say was, “I'm not your girlfriend anymore.” 

He sighed. “What will make you give up this rebelliousness?” 

“I'm not some petulant child throwing a tantrum,” you protested. At this point you were sitting up in bed and doing your best to glare despite being dressed in just an oversized shirt. A shirt that you'd probably stolen from him, actually. 

“Your activities last night beg to differ.” 

You couldn't believe that he was being so dismissive, but yelling wouldn't help anything. “I broke up with you, Seto, because you're an ass. I don't have any ulterior motives.” Unless you counted getting an apology, but you weren't going to tell him that. 

“Then why are you trying so hard to get my attention?” His question cut through all your nonsense and got to the heart of the matter. 

_You didn't want to lose him_. It was true that you were still angry with him, but you weren't angry enough to want to leave him for good. At the same time, you were too proud to just go back to him. He needed to admit that he had been wrong, and he needed to realize that he could trust you. 

You got out of bed and wandered over to your closet, grabbing out clothes at random. Then you turned to him, ignoring the fact that he was openly appreciating your bare legs. 

“If you know me so well, then you should be able to figure it out for yourself.” You wandered over to your bathroom. “I'm taking a shower. I expect you to be gone by the time I'm done.” You ignored his protests and locked yourself in your bathroom. A nice long bath was looking good about now.


	5. Honestly, It Sickens Me

You knew Seto Kaiba fairly well. A few months dating him taught you quite a few facts about him. You happened to be counting on two of those facts right now: One, his life is completely run by his company, and two, he's too damned impatient to wait for anything. If you took long enough in the bathroom he would eventually leave because he had somewhere to be, something to do, or just got sick of waiting.

You gave him ten minutes of pointless waiting, tops.

Of course you planned to take a little longer than that to shower and get ready, just in case. Frustration did tend to turn him into an unusually persistent man, but you figured that his impatience and company would override his frustration.

When you got out of the shower, you realized that the scent of coffee was wafting through the air. God damn it, he'd stayed.

You stormed into the kitchen. “Kaiba, why the hell are you still here?!”

Mokuba looked at you, alarmed, from his place in front of your cupboard. “I hope you don't mean me.”

“Mokuba? How the hell did **you** get in?!”

“Seto let me in before he left. What's wrong?” He feigned innocence, but you knew that he could be nearly as shrewd as his brother and twice as manipulative.

“You're one of the last people I want to talk to right now, Mokuba. Kindly show yourself out.” You weren't as rude to Mokuba as you would have been to Kaiba, but you still wanted Mokuba gone.

“Aw, c'mon, don't be like that! Don't you want to talk to someone?”

“Not you. You and I both know that whatever I say you're just going to parrot back to your brother. Besides, I know you're just going to take his side.” You liked Mokuba most of the time, but when you were fighting with Seto, Mokuba could be a huge pain in your ass.

He tried to pull the puppy eyes on you. “Can't I at least stay for lunch?”

Those eyes didn't work on you. Once upon a time, Mokuba had probably been cute enough for them to be lethal. You hadn't known him then, but you'd seen some pictures. Now he was just a teenager who needed a haircut.

He'd inherited the Kaiba stubbornness though, and you weren't sure if you could make him leave against his will. Unlike Kaiba, Mokuba could float around your apartment doing absolutely nothing but talking to you. It didn't even matter if you completely ignored the brat, he could carry on a conversation with himself. You'd learned that lesson the hard way.

“You can stay, but I'm not cooking for you.” You'd just signed your death warrant. The look on Mokuba's face practically screamed that he was going to bother you until you killed him (and then his brother would kill you). You pointed at the coffee pot. “Did you make this or did Seto?”

“There was already coffee there when I got here.”

“Mm, good.” Mokuba couldn't make a decent cup of coffee to save his life. He made it far too weak. Seto, on the other hand, liked a nice strong cup of coffee. Sometimes a little too strong for you (on occasion you wondered why he didn't just eat the coffee grinds), but nothing a bit of cream couldn't make delicious. Mokuba's weak shit, on the other hand, was always completely unsalvageable.

You ignored Mokuba while you poured and fixed yourself a cup of coffee. It wasn't until you'd settled down at your kitchen table and sipped about half the cup that you addressed him again.

“So is it too much to ask that you get to the damn point and not beat around the bush today?”

“I don't know what you mean!”

Right now you didn't feel like being playful with Mokuba. “Seriously Mokuba, say whatever you're here to say.”

Mokuba sighed and pouted at you. “So what's up between you and Seto?”

“Didn't you hear? I'm apparently being stubborn.” You were positive that Mokuba had already heard Kaiba's side of the story, complete with a rant about everything you were doing. The two were just that close.

“Don't you think you're being a little hard on him?”

You rolled your eyes. “You asked me that last time Seto and I fought. He told you what he said to me almost two weeks ago didn't he?” You knew that Mokuba always sided with Seto, but you couldn't imagine that even Mokuba could rationalize that away.

“You know he only says things like that because he loves you.” Apparently Mokuba could excuse his brother anything. You should have known.

“Well I'm not entirely sure that's the sort of love I want.” You sighed. “Look, I have errands I need to run today. I really don't have time for this right now.”

Mokuba bit his lip, and that was the moment you knew that something was up. His words just confirmed your suspicions. “Well, just give me a few more minutes?”

“Mokuba? What's going on?”


	6. She Knows She Can't Handle It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy!

Mokuba began to nervously check his phone. He tried to be subtle about it, but he was nowhere near as good at subtleties as his brother. It didn't help that you were glaring at him. You were not amused by the way he was trying to avoid the subject.

“Seriously, Mokuba, you better tell me what's going on,” you warned.

“Nothing... well, don't worry about it!” He was texting someone, and you narrowed your eyes at him. You'd assumed that Seto had left Mokuba behind in the hopes that Mokuba could get you to talk. Now you wondered if there was something that you were missing.

“Mokuba,” you growled.

He laughed nervously. “Look, it's for your own good okay?”

You heard your doorknob jiggle, and it sounded like someone was unlocking it. You resisted the urge to dash away like a startled rabbit. That could only be Seto opening your door, and Mokuba's words had you on edge. For your own good. What could he possibly mean?

Then Seto marched in, flanked by two of his guards, and you passed from startled into terrified. You were completely and utterly alarmed, but you wouldn't let that show.

“You know, when I gave you a key, I didn't think you'd be letting people into my apartment without my permission.” You thought that you pulled off flippant quite well given the circumstance.

“They're here to escort you to the mansion.”

_Well, shit_. “I never pegged you for a kidnapper.” That had come out decidedly aggressive so you mentally gave yourself a pat on the back. Aggressive was better than scared. Never let a Kaiba see your fear.

“She hasn't looked out a window yet?” His question was directed at Mokuba, but it made you exceedingly curious.

“What's out the window?”

They both ignored you. Mokuba simply grinned at his older brother. “I thought that you'd want to be here for her reaction.”

“Aren't you useful?” Had it been anyone else, Seto's voice would probably have been snarkier. As it was he was still pretty snappy and that wasn't a good sign. You knew that he only snapped at Mokuba when he was so stressed that he could barely see straight.

Maybe that should have served as a warning. Unfortunately, you were too sick of being ignored to care. “Well fuck you both.” You stormed over to the window and pulled the blinds open.

And then you promptly had a heart attack. “Why are there so many people in front of my building?” That frantic breathing might have been yours, you weren't sure anymore. The ocean of people standing outside was the only thing you could see. There were so many of them!

You were too busy panicking to notice the glances that the Kaiba brothers were sending at each other.

You faintly registered hearing Mokuba mutter, “She's **your** girlfriend Bro.” Then Seto's hands were on your face, and he forced your gaze away from the window.

“They think we're engaged.”

Fucking damn it. You were going to castrate whoever photoshopped that photo of you. “It wasn't this bad when they found out that we were dating.” You weren't sure if you were talking to yourself or him.

Either way, he chose not to respond.

“You two, we're going to rush her to the car. I'll lock up.”

You knew that the two bodyguards were holding onto your arms and leading you along, but at this point, your body had entered an automatic state. You'd gone into shock, and it only got worse as your little group exited the building.

To say that you were swarmed by photographers and journalists would be an understatement. They were everywhere: shouting questions and flashing lights. You started to feel a bit claustrophobic, and you had no idea how you were able to keep moving forward. This was worse than when the media 'outed' you as Seto Kaiba's girlfriend. So much worse.

Somehow you made it to Seto's limousine. The moment you were shoved inside, you curled up into a ball at the end of seat.

“What am I going to do?”

“Call in sick to work tomorrow?” Mokuba's jibe, while unappreciated, at least broke you out of your foggy state.

“Shut up, Mokuba.”

A noise of frustration brought your attention to the other resident of the limo. Seto was sitting next to you and pinching the bridge of his nose with both eyes closed. Either he had a headache or he was getting one.

Then his eyes snapped open and pinned you with a glare. “This was why we needed to talk this morning. If you weren't so obstinate--”

“Obstinate? Me?! How was I supposed to know you just didn't want to call me a lying, cheating skank again?!” Screw his headache. You would yell if you felt like it.

“Would you just get over that already?” Unlike you, his voice dropped registers when he was angry. Kaiba was known to yell, but the words 'deadly quiet' took on a whole new meaning with him.

“Hey!” Mokuba was disgustingly jovial despite the argument that was starting. He pointed at you. “You don't have time for this right now. You both need to decide what to do.” Then Mokuba grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “I think a spring wedding might be nice.”

Seto had to physically grab you to stop you from strangling his brother at that point. “Damn it Mokuba! This isn't a laughing matter! I'm going to be killed this time.”

“Don't be so dramatic.” Kaiba pulled you back onto the seat and wrapped an arm around your waist. With his other hand he pulled out his cell phone, and you realized that it was ringing. “Now both of you shut up.”

“Hey—” He put his hand over your mouth before you could say anything else. Then he answered his phone. “Kaiba.”

You sighed. You'd have to kill Mokuba later. You couldn't believe that he was even joking about this. There had been so many people on your lawn that morning. When the announcement had been made that you were Kaiba's girlfriend, things had been pretty bad for a while, but not this bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next update is actually going to be a flashback. (The first of three.) So, I'll see you guys there I guess~


	7. Opinions That Others Had (Flashback #1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fashback #1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a flashback of sorts. The reason why the reader is freaking out so much. I used italics for dialogue to give it that flashback-y feel. :D

You were a private person by nature. Your job was not high profile, you weren't a celebrity, and you weren't filthy rich. If you had the choice, you would never have gotten involved with someone like Seto Kaiba. His life was radically different from yours, and you didn't know if you were comfortable with that.

So, naturally, you were reluctant to release any information at all about your relationship. You just didn't like the idea of being thrown into the spotlight. Seto disagreed. He eventually tried to convince you that it would be better to just be open about your relationship with him.

 _But, we've only been dating for a month._ That was what you'd tried to tell him. A month was too soon for something like that. A relationship wasn't serious enough after a month that you should have to stick your neck out like that. You hadn't even met his brother until a week ago.

As always, he had a response prepared. _You've put up with me for a month. I haven't gotten sick of you after a month. Besides, I spent two weeks convincing you to date me. Do you really think I'd let that go to waste?_

Even when he was saying something romantic, he could still be a complete ass, but it kept you on your toes. You liked that he kept you on your toes—you might even love it—but a month was still too soon.

_Fine, but it'll be a bigger deal if we get 'caught' rather than just confess._

He was probably right, you honestly didn't know. It was still something to consider.

But a month was simply too soon for you. He might think of it as a long time, but you didn't.

Two weeks later, the issue was brought up again, and you weren't given much of a choice in the matter.

 _A major news network obtained a photo of us._ It had been the first thing he said to you that night. The first thing out of his mouth when he walked into your apartment.

It was a strange way to begin a conversation, even for him, but you didn't think it would be a problem. _Did you threaten them to keep it buried?_

_I offered them the exclusive on our relationship to stay quiet about it for a day._

He'd stepped on your toes the very first time that you met him. You argued with him frequently. Yet, somehow, that night was the first time you'd ever been really angry with him. _Without talking to me about it first?!_

 _I had no choice. They're the biggest network in Japan. Even I would have trouble buying them out._ He'd tried to kiss you, and you'd pulled away from him. It bothered you that he would just make a decision like that. _It had to come out eventually. It won't be that bad. I promise._

He rarely made promises. That promise had been the only reason you conceded the issue to him. He hadn't broken the promise either. You'd both gone onto a talk show for the last ten minutes of the show. He'd told the world that you were his, and then he demanded that the world keep their damn noses out of your business. Then you just told the announcer that you were a private person and didn't want to share personal details.

It had been brief and painless.

Until the paparazzi and letters entered your life. Suddenly you were being constantly hounded by a handful of reporters in public, and in private, you kept receiving threatening mail.

You stopped opening your mail. In fact, for a while, you were living at the Kaiba Mansion. He had been the one to extend the invitation before you even went on the talk show. You'd politely declined. You weren't going to move in with him when you had only been dating him for a month and a half. The creepy letters eventually decided the issue. You weren't going to wait for the first crazy girl to show up on your doorstep. Less than a week after the talk show, you moved into your own bedroom in Seto's mansion. He'd suggested that you move in as discreetly as possible, bringing over a little more of your stuff each day.

Thinking back to that made you count your lucky stars. Two weeks after you moved in with Seto, your apartment had been broken into in the middle of the night by two completely imbalanced women. The neighbors heard them ripping apart the place while looking for you and had called the police.

The police had told you that you'd been fortunate. Both women had been armed and would have probably killed you. It was ironic, but after that night, you'd been so scared that you'd started sleeping in Seto's bed.


	8. She Puts Her Hand on His Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of fluff to tide you guys over. The next chapter starts to explore the mechanics of their relationship.

Somewhere during the ride back to the mansion, you'd fallen asleep. Which wasn't too surprising considering you didn't get very much sleep last night and you'd had to deal with a lot this morning. 

You woke up to Seto shaking you lightly. "Wake up. We're home.” 

“Home huh?” you mumbled as you looked out the window at the mansion. “My stuff still in your room?” 

“Of course.” He got out of the car and held out his hand. 

You took his hand. “Hope you haven't been wearing my yellow dress. Wouldn't look good.” 

“Did you just say what I think you did?” He pulled you out of the car. You swayed on your feet for a moment before leaning into him. “You're still half asleep. That explains it.” 

You wrapped your arms around him and nestled your face into his chest. He smelled like coffee and soap. “I missed you.” Nobody and nothing could smell as nice as he did. 

He picked you up. One arm slid under your legs, and the other wrapped around your back. You snuggled into his arms. He was so _warm_ , just like your bed. His chest rumbled which meant that he was probably saying something, but you were too far gone to hear it.


	9. Before She Gets to The Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know I have Kaiba as the kind of driving force behind this relationship. My rationale is, Kaiba doesn't enter relationships lightly, and he doesn't just stay in them for no reason. So I took that and figured, well, then it would be possible for him to get serious kind of quickly. 
> 
> Enjoy~!

Later, you woke up to the sound of computer keys being hit. You were curled up against a body and surrounded by blue sheets. You sat up and pushed back the covers to find Seto sitting next to you, working on the computer in his lap. 

“What time is it?” He barely spent any time at all in his bed. Normally if he was working in bed, that meant it was late at night, but surely you hadn't slept through the entire day. 

“It's almost two in the afternoon. You shouldn't sleep in so much.” 

You'd heard that from him before so you disregarded it. “Don't you have work?” 

He stopped typing and stared at you with an eyebrow raised. “What does it look like I'm doing?” 

“Ha. Ha. Jackass.” You rolled your eyes. “Why aren't you at Kaiba Corp? Or in your office?” 

He looked distinctly uncomfortable as he closed his laptop. “I was... concerned.” 

“I'm not going to make a run for it, and if you were worried about that, you could have just posted a guard at the door.” 

“You're an idiot.” He didn't look uncomfortable anymore. Now he just looked irritated. “Since you're awake, I'm going to work in my office.” 

Then it all made sense. After the _incident_ , you'd moved into his room, so you knew from firsthand experience that Seto rarely slept in his bed. Except you'd been so shaken that you'd been incapable of sleeping alone for a while. At night, you would simply stay in whatever room Seto happened to be in. It only took two nights of you passing out in his office for him to figure out what was going on. Now that you thought about it, _that_ was when he'd started working in his bed. 

You pounced and wrapped your arms around him. You felt his body stiffen briefly before relaxing. With the way you'd been treating him lately, you knew that he hadn't expected your hug. Not that he ever expected your hugs. “Thank you.” Even though you were currently fighting with him, he'd stayed to make sure that you hadn't gotten scared. That really meant a lot to you. 

“Yeah, whatever,” he mumbled. 

You looked up at him with a grin and noticed that he was looking away from you. “Aw, are you _blushing_?” He wasn't, but he didn't need to know that. 

“Shut up. I'm going to go work.” His words were harsh, but he was gentle as he pried you away. 

You frowned. He definitely did have work to do, but you really needed to talk to him. So you followed him out of bed, down the hallway, and into his home office. He'd noticed you, but seemed to be ignoring you. 

He was probably waiting for you to bring up the issue yourself. You could do that. “We should talk.” You sat down on the little couch in his office. 

“Does that mean you're done throwing your fit?” 

“I was **not** throwing a fit you ass.” You glared at him even though his focus was on his work and not you. 

“We won't be able to hold a proper discussion if you insist on acting childishly.” 

One moment you were happy and the next you wanted to throttle him. He certainly had a gift for being a jerk. “Seto. I'm still not very happy with you, and we're going to eventually have a conversation about trust, but we've got bigger things to deal with right now. So if you'll stop being a jerk, then I'll pretend that you've apologized, and we can move on for the moment.” 

He didn't respond. You waited a moment and just took his silence for acceptance. “We need to resolve this marriage issue. I don't think that a retraction is actually going to help anything. I don't know why it's such a big deal... I mean people have known about me for a while. It's not like you're suddenly off the market...” 

“It's more permanent,” he interrupted your musing. “The retraction is unlikely to help. You're right about that. We can either ignore this until it goes away, deny it until people believe us, or get engaged.” 

“Engaged?!” _Where the hell had that come from_? 

“I'm simply listing it as an option. Objectively speaking, since we're already dealing with the backlash, we won't have to deal with it again if we just get engaged now.” He shrugged. 

You were completely floored. You'd known that he wasn't the most emotional man, but you didn't know how he could continue to just work while basically proposing to you. “Seto, don't you think that you're moving a bit fast again? We've only been dating for half a year, and we just got into a pretty bad fight...” 

“Do you not want to marry me?” 

Well, you might want to marry him, eventually. If he finally learned how to trust you and relaxed a little. He was supportive and loving, in his own way, and a strong man that you knew you could always depend on. He was intelligent, and you could talk to him about any subject in the world. He gave surprisingly good advice too. You admired the way he didn't stop until he was the best at everything and anything he did (which included sex). Nothing could stop him. 

It didn't hurt that he was an obscenely attractive man either. 

Above all, he made you feel safe. 

But you didn't know if any of that meant that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him. He was still a stubborn asshole who jumped to conclusions far too quickly. He was under the impression that stuff was a good substitution for an apology, and he did treat you a bit like an object at times. 

“I don't know.” It wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. He paused for a moment after you said that; his entire body freezing like he couldn't believe it. 

“It was just a suggestion. Even if we did get engaged, we wouldn't have to get married until you're ready.” 

You stopped yourself from taking it back. You hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings, but it was the truth. Marriage was a serious step. 

After a long stretch of silence, he spoke up again. "Either way, you should probably just move in with me again and take a few days off of work and school." 

“I can call my boss, but you know I can't miss my classes.” 

“You don't have much of a choice.” 

He was right. If you showed up at your classes, you'd get mobbed. You wouldn't be surprised if your schedule was floating around out there. Except... “I have a midterm coming up.” 

He put his finger tips to his temple, and you knew that he was wondering why he had to deal with such a headache right now. “I can assign you a bodyguard for when you need to go out, but you should see if you can schedule your midterm during a different time.” 

“I'll email my professor.” You turned to leave, but you had one more thing that you had to say first. “You know I love you, Seto.” You might not be ready to jump into a marriage, but you did love him. 

He didn't respond, but you expected that. He'd never said that he loved you, he probably never would, but he showed it, and that was enough. Actions spoke louder than words. 

Then, when you reached the doorway, he called out your name. You turned. 

“What I said a week ago was uncalled for.” 

You left with a grin on your face. Sometimes words were nice too.


	10. The TV is On, and the Radio is Blaring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Mokuba~ Such a brat.  
> Enjoy!

You'd always been a curious person by nature. You wanted to know the how and why of absolutely everything. It was probably one of the reasons why you could keep up with Seto in a conversation. You had so much random knowledge that you could talk about nearly any subject easily. 

That curiosity extended into many different things, including human behavior. Your insatiable curiosity was what finally drove you into the Kaiba mansion's equivalent of a living room at five to watch the news. You knew they would have footage from earlier in the morning, and you were curious to know what they would say about you as well as how the general public would react. 

You turned on the news with just enough time to catch the tail end of some story about a robbery, which reminded you that you needed to get the rest of your stuff out of your apartment before you ended up getting robbed. 

_What were you going to do?_ You'd been ranting and raving to anyone who would listen about how much your boyfriend sucked for the past week. He really stepped over the line when he yelled at you without even trying to figure out what was going on. For the past week, you really thought that it was over. It had been easy for you to concentrate on all his flaws and decide that breaking it off would be for the best. 

Of course, it was only easy to focus on his flaws when he wasn't there. It was easy to remember how hateful he could be when he wasn't there at night, making sure that you didn't have nightmares. 

Ignoring the fact that you were currently stuck in his home for your safety, could you really break up with him? His words had really hurt you, but he had at least admitted that they'd been wrong and that he had been out of line.

It was a start at least.

Then Seto's face was on the screen. You turned up the volume, knowing that they would be talking about you now. 

“Today, a large and well-respected newspaper revealed a picture of Seto Kaiba's long time girlfriend. In the picture she appears to be wearing an engagement ring on her finger. Are wedding bells in the future for this happy couple? We'll be revealing details right after these messages from our sponsors. Stay tuned!” 

You really hated when they did that. You muted the commercials, not in the mood to hear any happy-go-lucky product songs at the moment. 

“What're you doing in here?” 

You turned and swore. It was Mokuba and some of his brainless friends. You didn't really pay much attention to his friends so you had no clue what any of their names were. They could all be named Steve for all you cared. They were just mindless lackeys that followed him around and did whatever he said. 

“Watching the news. You can join me if you want.” You left out the part where you would prefer it if the stupid friends went away. That would be rude, even for you. 

“Well, we're going to play Halo.” 

You wanted to roll your eyes. Mokuba could be such a brat. He was basically trying to kick you out of the room. “That's nice.” You pretended to be oblivious. 

Mokuba didn't move. “In _here_.”

“If you wait fifteen minutes, maybe, but right now, I'm watching the news, and I was here first.” 

His friends laughed. 

“I don't want to wait fifteen minutes.” 

You were really ready to argue with the kid. You _knew_ for a fact that there were other rooms he could play in, but the commercials looked like they were ending. It was time to make a deal.

“Mokuba, shut up for fifteen minutes, and I'll let you drive one of Seto's cars to school tomorrow.” 

You could see how much he wanted that. Mokuba was a flashy kid, and he liked to show off. The thought of driving to school in one of Seto's expensive cars practically had him drooling. “He'd never go for that. I don't even have my license yet.” 

“I'll be your licensed driver.”

“Deal.” 

You were so going to regret that when you had to wake up early tomorrow morning, but for now, the room was quiet, and you could turn up the volume again. They were finally showing the footage from this morning, and boy did you look like a scared rabbit. 

The announcers were commenting over the video, and you wanted to kiss the woman who pointed out that you weren't wearing a ring. 

“The lucky couple haven't made an announcement yet, so perhaps they hadn't meant to make it public. It's possible that she just forgot to take the ring off last night. We know that Seto Kaiba visited her early in the morning looking angry.” They showed video of Seto storming into your apartment complex. “Perhaps he yelled at her for letting it leak.” That announcer was now officially on your hitlist. 

“Well, they won't be able to stay silent about it for long. People want to know all about it.” The woman was smiling at the camera. “Now we've got a reporter out on the streets to see what everyone has been saying about it.”

Oh no. You had a bad feeling about this.

Then they started running clips of their reporter asking people on the street how they felt about it. 

The first person was an older woman who just gushed about how lovely it was to see young couples in love. 

The second person was a snotty preteen who didn't think you were good or pretty enough for Seto Kaiba.

The third person was an older teen who thought you were just a gold digger.

Then, a woman who was older than you, maybe in her thirties, said that she hoped that the two of you were happy together. 

The last person was apparently a guy who'd gone to school with Seto. He said that he thought you should run away while you still could.

Then the story was over. “It's all yours,” you told Mokuba as you left the room. 

All you could think about was how the responses were mostly negative. That wasn't a good sign.


	11. She's Ready To Go

You'd been avoiding Seto's room like the plague all day even if it was technically your room, too. You'd slept in it for a few months, and after that, you'd stayed in it whenever you stayed at the mansion. You even woke up in it this afternoon. 

Those facts didn't help. You were feeling a bit torn and shy at the moment. So you timidly pushed open the door and looked inside. He was already in bed, working. It was sweet, but you sort of wished that he stayed in his office. 

“Why are you hovering near the door?” Sometimes you wondered how he could do that. He never even looked up from his work. 

You ignored his question, choosing to silently enter the room. You went straight for his closet, giving yourself a minor pep talk as you grabbed a shirt and changed into it. Since you were very carefully ignoring him, you had no idea if he was watching you or not. It might have been your imagination, but it did sound like his typing had stopped. But when you turned around, he was simply looking over a report. 

“Are you in the middle of something?” 

“Quarterly reports.” He looked up at you, smirking. “Did you have something else in mind?”

“Not what you were thinking. I want to talk to you.” 

He went back to work. “Talk.”

You carefully moved some of the papers out of your way so you could sit cross-legged on the bed. “You're going to drive me crazy. I don't know what gave you the impression that I'm either going to use you or cheat on you, but I can't put up with this much suspicion anymore.”

He was silent and still working, but you knew he was paying attention. Perhaps you should have insisted that he put his work aside for a moment, but that was a battle not worth fighting. 

“I can't not talk to other men, Seto. Do you know how many times I've had to do projects with men? Sometimes I don't have a choice. The way you go ballistic whenever you see me with a man makes me feel untrustworthy. I don't like the way your suspicion makes me feel.” 

You waited. You'd sit there staring at him for an hour if you had to. 

“I don't... distrust you,” he finally managed to say.

“Well then start acting like it.” Now that that was out of the way—because it wasn't like you were going to get a romantic speech out of him—you felt much better. Now it was up to him to stop acting so paranoid. 

“So, have you been helping Mokuba with his driving?” You started to slowly make space for yourself by shuffling his papers out of the way. You'd done this many times before, and you already knew how to keep them in the appropriate order. 

“No, I hired an instructor.”

You hummed. “Well I promised I'd take him to school tomorrow and let him drive.” 

He suddenly understood the direction that the conversation was taking. “No.” 

“Please? You _did_ say I could use your cars whenever I wanted.” 

“I said **you** could use my cars. Mokuba would just get into an accident while trying to drive too fast.” 

Seto knew his brother too well. “It's just to school, and I promised I would let him. Don't you want us to be able to bond?” 

He sighed, and you knew that you were wearing him down. “Don't you think it'll be a bit dangerous for you to go out right now?”

“I'll be in a car the entire time. If any fangirls attack me, I'll run them over. Your lawyer can help me claim self defense right?” 

“Take the Lexus. Don't even let him _look_ at my Mercedes.” He went back to his work. “You owe me.”


	12. Dealing With Mokuba

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've actually had to teach someone to drive before. It was totally the opposite of this chapter. It was more like: YOU'RE GOING TOO SLOW! SPEED UP!

“No, Mokuba. You _don't_ get a choice in the matter.”

“But you promised!” 

You really hated his whiny voice. It grated on your nerves and really didn't make you inclined toward giving him what he wanted.

"I only promised to let you drive one of Seto's cars to school. I never said which one.”

He pouted. “That's so not cool!”

“If you don't like the car, then you don't have to drive it.” You walked toward the garage's exit. “I'll call a driver for you.” 

“No! Wait!” Victory was yours! “I'll drive it! Gimme the keys!”

You smirked and tossed him the keys. 

He got into the passenger's seat and buckled up as he pulled the driver's seat up and adjusted all the mirrors. 

You decided to start instructing him, unsure of how well he could drive. “Okay, no speeding Mokuba. Not even a little. You get a ticket, and I get killed.”

“Nobody would give me a ticket!” He scoffed. “I'd threaten to have them fired.”

You thought that you might want to start praying at this point. “You know, when people say that Seto owns Japan, they're not speaking literally.”

He shrugged. “Nobody would dare give me a ticket either way.” 

“Okay, fine, but still, **no speeding**.”

“Whatever.”

You really hoped that you wouldn't die today.

\---

Mokuba was fine getting out of the garage, out of the mansion's driveway, and down the street. Possibly because Seto had surveillance. Then, once he was out of the mansion's view, he floored it. 

“Mokuba! SLOW DOWN!” 

He turned up the volume on the stereo. “Sorry, can't hear you.”

“Slow the fuck down, or so help me, I will make sure you never get into one of Seto's cars again.” 

“You don't have that kind of power.” He swerved and cut someone off. 

Given the way Mokuba drove, he would never get his license anyway. “Wanna bet? I know you've already snuck his cars out before.”

He slammed on his brakes. “Who told you?”

Nobody had told you anything. You knew Mokuba well enough that you'd just assumed he would do that. Probably to show off to some girl. Seto wasn't home often enough to notice, and guards were bribable (most of the staff liked Mokuba more than Seto anyway).

You just grinned as a car horn honked. “Drive Mokuba. Reasonably, please.” 

“I really hate you.”

It wasn't the first time you'd heard that and you knew that he would be over it before lunchtime.

You did relent a little and let him roll the windows down and blast the music as he pulled up to his school. Mokuba managed to gain the attention of the entire student body, which had been exactly what he'd wanted. 

“Hey.” You grabbed his arm before he got out of the car. “Get the crowd _away_ from the car so I can leave.” 

“I want some time to gloat! Besides, it's not like you're in a hurry.” 

The kid really was too self-centered. “I kind of am. Your brother made me promise to call him when I get back to the mansion. He'll think I stopped somewhere if I take too long.” 

“Aw, hell. Fine.” 

He got out of the car, and you slid over into the driver's seat. You locked all the doors, just to be safe, and adjusted the car for your much smaller height. Mokuba wasn't quite as tall as his brother, but he was still a lot taller than you. 

Mokuba was able to quickly get the crowd to migrate away from the car. You could say a lot of bad things about the kid, and you didn't often see eye to eye with him, but he wasn't so petty that he would intentionally try to mess up your relationship with his brother. No matter how much the two of you fought, neither of you ever involved Seto. 

You got back to the mansion with almost no problems. Of course, you were a bit of a hypocrite and sped the entire way, but you couldn't help it. Seto's cars were fun to drive. 

It got the press out of your way fairly quickly too. The hoard in front of the Kaiba mansion gates had completely scattered out of the car's way. Sure, if Seto Kaiba hit you, you could sue him, but you'd almost certainly lose. 

You called Seto's personal cell as you walked into the kitchen in search of coffee. You asked the cook if there was any coffee ready, and Seto picked up midway through your question.

“Coffee? Don't break my kitchen.” 

You laughed. “Hey, I only had problems with a coffee pot once!” It had just happened to be the first time he'd met you, and he never let you live that down. 

“Just don't touch anything in the kitchen. I assume this means you got Mokuba to school safely?”

“He's at school, and nobody is injured. Your car included.”

“Good. I'll see you later tonight then.” Then he hung up on you before you even had a chance to say goodbye, but you would be lying if you said that you weren't used to that.


	13. Sitting Alone (Flashback 2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the second flashback out of three. This one explains how the reader and Kaiba met~ ;D  
> Enjoy!

You'd initially met Seto Kaiba during finals week. It was one of the most stressed out weeks of your life, or so you'd thought at the time. Of course, when you went to a small cafe for a pick-me-up, you hadn't realized that you were about to meet one of the most complicated men in Domino. Even if you had known, you never would have expected a relationship to form from that meeting.

This particular cafe was fairly out of the way, college students didn't often frequent it. But while it might be a bit out of the way for you, your friend Mitsuko worked there, and you could get a discount from her, so it was your favorite cafe by default. It also happened to be fairly dead after the lunchtime rush. It was closer to the business district of Domino and busier in the morning than in the afternoon. When you walked in, the only people present were an elderly couple at one of the outside tables. 

“Mitsuko!” you called out, figuring that she was in the back. “I need a coffee or I'm going to die!”

She poked her head out. “Oh, I actually need to brew some more. We're down to the dregs. Could you do that for me while I finish unpacking some boxes?” 

“Sure.” You could do that. You made coffee all the time at home. It was almost one of the very first things that you'd ever learned how to make. 

“Thanks!” She showed you where the coffee was kept and bounced back to the employee only area. 

She was gone before you could really get a good look at the coffee machine, if it could even be called such a simple thing, and it was too late to stop her. Now you found yourself faced with a machine that had more buttons than a fifty-floor elevator. You told yourself that you could figure this out. You liked to think that you were an intelligent individual. A coffee machine would not defeat you! No matter how complicated it was. 

Yet, five minutes of struggling later, and you'd only just figured out where the water went, and you weren't even positive that the water really did go there. Then a cough startled you out of your deep concentration, and you knocked the coffee machine over, spilling water onto the counter, the floor, and yourself. 

“FUCKING DAMN IT!” you yelled at no one in particular. 

“Excuse me.” Someone was impatiently waiting for service behind you. You barely even spared the man a glance as you righted the coffee machine.

“Sorry, I don't work here.” You looked for something to wipe up all the water with.

“You appear to be working.”

You turned to the man. “Look, buddy, I told you I don't—” Your voice trailed off as you realized that you were talking to Seto Kaiba. 

You knew that if you didn't want to get Mitsuko in trouble, you were going to have to bite your tongue. “Sorry sir.” You attempted a smile. “What can I help you with today?”

“A large coffe. Black. Now.”

_Shit._ “It'll be a moment sir. I was about to brew a fresh batch.” 

“It doesn't look like you know what you're doing.” 

_Screw you too!_ “I know what I'm doing,” you snapped.

“I don't have all day.” 

He didn't move, so you assumed that meant he was going to wait for a fresh pot. Lovely. You turned back to your archnemisis and hoped that you could figure out how to get it to cooperate. Fortunately, you'd been right about where the water went, and after that, you figured out where to put the coffee grinds. Minutes later, you successfully managed to brew a delicious smelling pot of coffee. 

You served him a large cup and rang it up on the register. As you pulled out his change, he took a sip from the cup. 

“It's strong.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him. _How dare he insult your coffee!_ “If you don't like it, they serve coffee-flavored water at the donut place around the corner.” 

He raised an eyebrow and smirked at you. “Keep the change,” he said before leaving. 

You looked down at the money in your hand. He'd just paid for a three dollar cup of coffee with a twenty! You were suddenly seventeen dollars richer, and you hadn't even done anything. 

You poured yourself a cup of coffee, ready to sit at a table and study now. Then you took a sip of the coffee and nearly spat it out. It **was** strong, even for you! No wonder Seto Kaiba had complained. 

The next day, you discovered that he actually hadn't been complaining. Mitsuko called you and informed you that Seto Kaiba had come into the cafe, bitched about how weak the coffee was, and demanded that he be served by the girl from the day before. The one who actually knew how to make a decent pot. 

“He actually liked that crap?” you asked her once she was done with her story.

She was frantic. “You've gotta help me! How did you make the coffee yesterday?” 

You honestly couldn't remember exactly what you'd done. “I dunno. It tasted like sludge though. I used way too much coffee.”

“Well come over and make more tomorrow!”


	14. To Go Outside is to Take a Chance

As soon as possible, you had emailed your professors and explained your situation to them, not that most of them didn't already know. They had all been very willing to work with you until things settled down, but a few of them had just told you to "Ask your boyfriend if you have any questions about the material." Apparently Seto Kaiba was supposed to know everything.

You didn't really care. Google knew everything too. 

Then one of your professors said that he would allow you to take the midterm early but only if your boyfriend volunteered to give a guest lecture to one of his graduate classes. You'd never hated anyone so much in that moment. You hated to ask Seto to do a favor for you, but he agreed without much protest. You only hoped that when he gave that lecture he wouldn't be more of a jerk than usual to your professor. You did want to pass the class. 

So today found you on campus accompanied by a bodyguard. You were taking your midterm early, but that was fine with you. Seto hadn't had the time to help you with too much of your studying, but he had quizzed you on a few key ideas. So even though you were taking the midterm in your professor's tiny office with a bodyguard standing just outside, you felt pretty comfortable with the material. 

When you emerged from the office, you were in good spirits. You felt like the test had gone well. You grinned at your bodyguard. “Time to go back to the mansion!” 

You didn't expect anyone to call out to you as you left the building. You turned, ready to run if the guy had a camera, but it was just a guy from one of your classes. He was with a few other guys, and you assumed that they were his friends, but you didn't know for sure. You'd worked with him on a project, but you didn't like him very much. He asked you too many questions about your personal life. 

“Hey! You haven't been in classes lately. I was worried you were sick or something.”

He was so full of bullshit. “So you don't watch the news then?” 

He laughed, and it was probably supposed to come off as lighthearted, but you really did not like the guy. “Well if you'd like, I can give you copies of my notes?” 

That was surprisingly nice. “Thanks, but I'm fine. The professors have been sending me their slides.” 

“It won't take long! C'mon.” He grabbed your wrist and tried to pull you with him, but your bodyguard was quick to yank him off you. 

“I think you should leave. Now.” 

You didn't know how it happened, but suddenly the three men were fighting your guard. Three against one. You just stood there, frozen in place and wondering what the hell was happening. You'd expected crazy girls or a mob of reporters. Not three random college guys. 

You couldn't help it. You backed away from the fighting and took off running. Your body just kicked into survival mode, and you gave into the impulse to get as far away as you could. You never even noticed when one of the guys started to follow you. Not that it would have made much of a difference. Even if you had known that he was chasing you, he was well built, in shape, and had much longer legs. 

You were caught quickly, and not long after that your entire world went dark.


	15. The Perfect Picture of Misdirection

You woke up feeling incredibly uncomfortable. You tried to stretch out your body and quickly discovered that your hands were bound behind your back. A quick check confirmed that your legs were also bound together. 

You could scream, but you weren't sure how effective that would be. You looked at your surroundings carefully. You appeared to be in a living room, and from your angle, you could see the kitchen. Both rooms were empty, but there were other rooms with closed doors, and for all you knew, your captor was in one of those rooms. If you screamed, you'd get his attention for sure. 

You did your best to stay calm. They weren't going to kill you. If they wanted to kill you, you would be dead already. This wasn't some revenge against Seto Kaiba scheme. Which didn't mean much. It could still be a number of other nasty things. You wondered if this was what Mokuba felt like all those times he'd been kidnapped. From the tales that Seto told you, Mokuba frequently found himself in a similar position when the two of them were younger. 

Which didn't explain why Mokuba was such a jerk now. You'd think he'd be a little less into flaunting the money that kept getting him in trouble, but whatever, that wasn't the issue at the moment. 

The issue was that your hands were tied behind your back, and you were lying on them. The pressure was starting to hurt your wrists. So you bent your knees, trying to put pressure on your feet, and pulled yourself into a seated position. You could probably hop your way to the door, but hopping was sure to make a lot of noise, and then you still might have to run away. You didn't know where you were. It could be an apartment in the middle of the city or a cabin out in the woods. So the first priority had to be getting your legs and hands untied. 

Unfortunately, the creep who kidnapped you happened to walk in as you were trying (and failing) to untie yourself. 

“I thought I heard something out here. I see you're awake.” 

You glared at him. “What the hell did you kidnap me for? If you think you'll get any money from Seto, you're sadly mistaken.” 

“I'm not ransoming you. I'll be letting you go tomorrow. Don't worry about that.” One side of his mouth turned up in a half-smile. “I won't do anything to you either... well, not much.” 

You were instantly wary. “What do you want from me?” 

“It's simple. Either you break up with your precious Seto, or I convince him to break up with you.” 

“Why? Are you a fan of his?” You forced out a laugh, even though you didn't feel very amused. “You know, even if we break up, he still won't be interested in men—” 

Your kidnapper slapped your face, and you lapsed into a shocked silence. “I don't give two shits about your boyfriend. All I know is some girls are offering a lot of money to anyone who breaks the two of you up. I plan to cash in.” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons. “The press should be here soon.” 

“The press?” 

He didn't respond. He simply walked over to his window and threw the curtain open. You blinked against the sudden light and realized that you must be in an apartment since that clearly wasn't a ground floor window. 

Well, it was worth a shot. You opened your mouth and screamed. 

Your captor dashed to you and covered your mouth with his hand. “Shut up.” He held his hand to your mouth, ignoring the fact that you were trying to bite him, and looked around. Probably for something to gag you with. 

Then he seemed to be grinning for no reason. He pulled his phone back out and looked at it. “Perfect.” He removed his hand and pulled you off the couch. 

Your eyes widened as he suddenly started kissing you. What did he think he was doing?! You tried to think of something, _anything_ , that you could do to get away from him. Then he started backing up toward his window, and you realized what was going on. He'd mentioned the press. If there were paparazzi out there, they would get pictures of this if you got too close to the window. Seto would see those pictures and break up with you. 

You tried to struggle, but with your legs and hands still tied, it was ineffectual. He leaned against the window, and you did your best to keep your tears at bay. Seto would never believe that you hadn't cheated when he had 'evidence' that you'd been with another man. It was all over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the off chance that I don't get around to uploading all of this. It is posted in its entirety on another site. If you google the name and my username, you should be able to find it. :)


	16. Lead a Life You Won't End Up Regretting

“Hey look! Your boyfriend is calling again!” 

You'd been gagged at this point so all you could do was glare as your captor dangled your phone in front of your face. 'Seto Kaiba' was flashing across the screen right above a picture of him. A picture that you had just randomly taken of him since he wouldn't ever pose for one. You'd harassed him like a paparazzi until you'd finally caught a picture of him at his desk. He happened to be looking over some paperwork at the time and you just felt like that photo suited him. 

He'd called you five times in the past ten minutes. You wondered if he was trying to figure out where you were, or if he'd already seen photos. Was he calling as a concerned boyfriend or as an angry ex? 

“I wonder what he'll think. His girlfriend disappears for a night and then photos of her in another man's apartment surface? Heh. I'm already imagining what I'm going to do with the money I'm getting from this. Maybe if you're nice to me, I'll spend some of it on you.” 

What you wanted to do was spit in his face. You hated him. You'd kill him with a smile if you could. Seto was going to break up with you and there wasn't anything you could do about it. You were bound and gagged until tomorrow morning, and by then Seto would have seen the pictures. If you could get to him before the photos you had a chance, a small chance but it was there, after the photos he wouldn't want to talk to you or see you ever again. 

“Ooooh, now the little brother is calling. They really want to know where you are. This is working out nicely. I think I'll order a pizza to celebrate.” 

Well at least he was going into the kitchen now. Though he'd probably be back to gloat as soon as he placed his order. Asshole. All he did was watch TV and gloat. He wasn't even vaguely interesting, and you weren't surprised that he didn't have a girlfriend. 

“Want some beer?” 

_No I want you to fuck off._ You glared at him wishing that you weren't gagged. You were going to kick his ass tomorrow when he let you go. You already had it all planned out. He had a few heavy objects lying around, you could pick one up and beat him with it. 

Then someone was pounding on the door, probably the pizza guy. As he answered the door you looked around for something to knock over. Maybe you could get the pizza guy's attention. 

He twisted the handle, and the door flew open into his face. He was knocked to the floor cursing the entire way. Seto walked through the doorway and you would have squealed if you were able. His gaze swept the entire room until he spotted you. His eyes noted the gag and the fact that you were bound before he turned his glare to your kidnapper. 

Your kidnapper was standing up and swearing at Seto. He charged and Seto easily lodged his fist into the man's stomach. The man doubled over and Seto grabbed him by the collar, pulling the man's face up. “You will never touch her, or even look at her again.” Then Seto slammed his fist into the man's face. Your kidnapper collapsed onto the floor. 

Seto kicked him once, to make sure that he was out, before approaching you. He pulled off your gag. “If he hurt you, I'm going to have to wake him up so I can kick his ass again.” 

“No, I'm fine.” You turned so he could undo the restraints on your wrists. “How did you find me?” 

“I remotely turned your phone's GPS on. Then I tracked it.” He freed your wrists. 

“Well, there's something you should know...” 

“I already saw the pictures.” 

Your eyes widened. “And you came for me anyway?” You turned and wrapped your arms around his neck. “I'm so sorry I broke up with you. You really do trust me.” You pulled away and grabbed the side of his face, pulling him down so that you could kiss him. 

It was the first time you'd kissed him in weeks, and all the built up tension and frustration poured into it. He matched you, aggression for aggression, and you sighed contentedly. You'd forgotten what an excellent kisser he was. 

He decided that he was never, ever, going to tell you what had really happened.


	17. A Cheating Heartbreaker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the original author's note:
> 
> This is Kaiba's little chapter. I used 'you' to denote the reader character for part of it, but then for the parts where I was too deep in his head, I used 'she' or 'her' to denote the reader. I left it as is because I feel it adds to the chapter but if it's confusing let me know and I'll fix it.

Seto Kaiba was known for being far too involved in his work. However one thing he rarely ever did was lose track of time. Time was too essential to nearly anything he did for him to neglect it. He had meetings at designated times, work that needed to be done before those meetings, paperwork that needed to be done before the end of the work day, and he liked to see as many of the product tests as he could. Sure his secretary could remind him about his appointments, but he could spend his time more efficiently if he actually paid attention to time. 

So later in the day he began to worry about you. Your final should have been over a while ago and he'd asked you to call him when you got back to the mansion. He'd sent one of his guards to protect you though so he didn't feel like he should be that worried. You'd probably just forgotten to call him. So he continued his work without concern. You should be fine. 

Until his secretary buzzed him on the intercom. “Mr. Kaiba, you have a Mr. Ogawa from the news station on line one.” 

“I'll take the call.” He put the phone on his desk on speaker and pressed the button for the first line. “Kaiba.” 

“Mr. Kaiba, some disturbing photos have come into our studio. I've just emailed them to you, I think you might want to consider giving a statement later.” 

“I'll have the appropriate amount sent to you.” Then Kaiba hung up. Mr. Ogawa was paid to send him any relevant pictures that his station had before they were aired. It helped him control what was going on in the media. He brought up his email and checked the message that he'd just received. He clicked on the attachment and the first picture loaded. 

'That fucking bitch.' He picked up a random object and hurled it across the room. He felt a bit better as he heard whatever it was break. He told himself to calm down and think about the situation from a logical standpoint. What if that wasn't even her in the photos? 

He grabbed his phone and dialed her number. He'd demand to know where she was. It rang for what felt like ages before her voicemail picked up. He just hung up and called Mokuba. If Mokuba was with her, that would solve everything. 

“Hey big bro!” 

He didn't bother returning the greeting. “Is she with you?” 

“Your girlfriend? No. Why? Is she missing?” 

“I'm not sure.” He hung up. 

Kaiba tried calling her phone one more time. Still voicemail. He'd have to look at the damn photos again. He quickly shuffled through them until he found the one with the best shot of the woman's face. Then he magnified it, wincing as he realized that she was definitely his girlfriend. Before he could go back on a rampage, the magnified version of her face sent off warning bells. She seemed to be wincing or bracing herself for something. 

He tried calling her once more. He needed to know what the fuck was going on. She didn't look like she wanted to be there kissing that man, so why was she? 

She'd left with a guard this morning so she wasn't there against her will. She wouldn't be trying to get back at him for something, she wasn't nearly that petty. She wouldn't be trying to break up with him either, if she were going to break up with him she would do it in person. 

Like she had a few weeks ago... he hadn't listened because he'd been so sure that she was just angry at him. What if she'd meant it? What if this was her desperate way of breaking it off? 

Well damn it. She'd still have to break up with him to his face if that was what she wanted. He quickly activated her phone and traced it. He was going to track her down. 

“Put everything on hold until I come back,” he told his secretary as he stormed out of the building. 

He knew he had the right place when he spotted all the paparazzi sitting outside. He simply ignored them and stormed into the apartment. He was going to get answers now damn it. The paparazzi were at least useful for something though. He could tell which apartment you were in based on the window they were all looking at. 

He pounded on the door and considered breaking it down when it didn't open right away. Then the handle twisted, and it started to open. 'Too slow,' he thought as he kicked it open. He felt a certain satisfaction as he realized that he'd kicked the door into the man who'd been kissing his girlfriend. 

Then he looked around the room and found you bound and gagged. 

'I'm an idiot,' Kaiba thought. 'She'd never willingly cheat on me.' 

He turned on the man who'd kidnapped her. He was going to beat that man within an inch of his life.


	18. What You Need to Have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're so close to getting to the end of this fic! :) I hope everyone is enjoying it.

You rocked your hips into Seto's as you nibbled and kissed your way along his jaw. Your fingers started toying with the edge of his pants, dipping your fingertips into his pants without going far. Your other hand teasingly traced his hipbone. 

Then he pushed you away and you couldn't help but be confused. 

“This isn't an appropriate location.” 

You took in the sight of him. At some point you'd completely unbuttoned his shirt, and the sight of his bare chest was enough to wind you up. You were about to trace the contours of his stomach muscles before a groan that didn't belong to him snapped you out of it. You looked around the room and finally noted the crumpled body near the door. Right. You were still at your kidnapper's. 

It would serve him right to have his couch tainted. Your hands went straight for the zipper of Seto's pants—only to get blocked. 

“No,” he growled. 

“C'mon, the guy'll be out for a few hours. Enough time for us to get his couch dirty.” You winked at Seto. 

“His door is open.” 

“Oh whatever, so we scar a few old ladies...” 

“Anyone could walk by. Do you really want the press calling you a porn star?” 

Damn. He had you there. The last thing you needed was for someone to decide to film the two of you. “Fine, you can just fuck yourself then.” You tried to get up and off him, but you'd completely forgotten that your legs were still tied together. You tumbled off the couch to land in an undignified heap on the floor. So much for walking away with your head held up high. 

“Need some help?” He was smirking at your misfortune. Not even the least bit worried that you'd hurt yourself. Well he wasn't getting any tonight. No siree. 

You started untying your feet. “I'm just fine, but next time I'll be sure to untie myself before giving you anything.” You stood once you were able to remove the restraints. 

He'd buttoned up his shirt far before you were even able to fully untie yourself. He was already standing by the door and not a single article of clothing was out of place. So you deliberately ignored him as you straightened your own clothes. Then you danced over to your captor and kicked him once. He was already out so he wouldn't know where that particular pain came from but it was better than nothing. 

“So are the vultures still out there?” you asked as the two of you walked down the stairs. 

“They were there when I arrived.” 

“Great. I just love being swarmed by cameras.” 

“Get over it.” He grabbed your hand. “We're going to need to do some damage control. Why did that guy take you anyway? I didn't receive a ransom note.” 

“Oh right! I didn't tell you. Um, something about your crazy fangirls offering money to whoever could break us up. I'm just glad they weren't offering money for my scalp.” 

He squeezed your hand, a moment of reassurance, before he pushed open the door to the building. The moment the door opened, flashes were going off left and right. Questions were being asked and it seemed like the amount of press had doubled. 

“SHUT UP!” Seto practically bellowed and, like magic, the questions just stopped. “If any of you fools had bothered paying attention, you might have noticed that my girlfriend's hands were tied behind her back in those damn photos you were taking earlier. She's been held captive up there for a majority of the day and all of you are accessories to that crime. If I see you print anything in your papers accusing her of cheating on me, I'll press charges.” Then he wrapped an arm around your body, holding you close as he shoved his way through the paparazzi and straight to his car. 

“You drove?” Then something else caught your eye. “And you parked in front of a fire hydrant?” 

“Shut up.” He nearly shoved you into the passenger seat before slamming the door and walking around to the driver's side. 

He got into the car and you couldn't resist one little jibe. “Are you sure you remember how to drive? It has been a while.” 

He simply ignored you. So you rolled down the windows and turned up the music. It was a nice day for a drive through the streets. 

Until he pulled up in front of a building that was clearly neither the mansion nor Kaiba Corp. “What are we doing here?” 

“Damage control. We're going to be on the late night news.” 

You got out of the car and glared at the building. “Shouldn't the nine o'clock news cover, I dunno, actual news?” 

“Yes. That's why they'll be talking to you about your kidnapping.” 

You groaned. “I don't think I've ever heard about Mokuba being forced to do this. Actually, you wouldn't have to force him, he loves attention. Can we pretend he got kidnapped instead?” 

“No. They have pictures remember?” 

“Right. Damn.” You followed him into the building. You'd honestly thought that you would never have to go on TV ever again. Well, at least the tale was short. Guy kidnaps you, tries to get Seto to break up with you, and Seto storms in to kick his ass. Actually, you should probably leave out the ass kicking, it could make Seto look bad. The last thing Seto needed was some hippy organization protesting outside Kaiba Corp. because he beat someone up. 

Though you hadn't expected them to pull out such a hard question at the very beginning. “So tell us, who was your kidnapper?” 

“Um, well, I don't actually know his name. He was just some guy I worked with on a project once.” 

“Who he was is irrelevant. He was hired to break us up by another person.” Well, at least Seto was here to stop you from looking too silly.  


\-----

“Would you like me to give you cards to read off of next time?” 

You stuck your tongue out at him. “I don't need them. The press likes me more anyway. They've always got nicer things to say about me.” 

He scoffed. “That's just because you were stupid enough to offer the paparazzi coffee.” 

“Yeah, coffee laced with laxatives so they'd all stop hanging out outside my place.” You frowned. “If that's why they like me, then maybe I should do that more often...” 

“You put laxatives in their coffee?” Somehow that point had gained his attention. You smugly wondered if it was because he wished that he'd thought of doing something like that. 

“I never told you that? It was one of the rare nights I knew you were coming over. I wanted to get rid of them.” 

“But laxatives? I'm surprised that none of them wrote about that!” His voice was steadily getting icier. “It could have led to a lot of negative press.” 

You shook your head at how serious he was about this. “That's why I put it in the coffee. Coffee makes people need to pee anyway, and I didn't put that much in. Besides, they apparently never noticed so don't worry about it.” You pulled him close. “Worry about kissing me.” 

Kaiba looked down at you and smirked. One eyebrow arched upward in a challenge. One of his arms wrapped around your waist, pulling you closer until you were pressed against him. You leaned up onto your toes and tilted back your head. Finally he leaned closer to you and his lips were close to meeting your own. "I don't think I need to **worry** about kissing you." His chest rumbled with the vibrations of his voice. Then his lips met your own. The kiss was brief but demanding, and when he pulled away, he looked smug. "There's nothing about my kissing skills that I need to worry about."


	19. Oh You Don't Mean That (Flashback #3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note this fic is done, but I am including the original author's notes. Here:
> 
> I'm working on the last part of this fic. I'm not happy with it yet so... here! Have a flashback!  
> It's kind of vagueish since I'd never really planned on using it. Hope you guys enjoy it anyway!

Your phone was ringing. Yet again. You had just ignored a call from a number you didn't recognize, and now it looked like that number was calling again. Whoever it was apparently wanted to get in contact with you. 

Reluctantly you picked up the phone. “Hello?” 

“I have a business proposition for you—” 

“Who is this?” you interrupted. 

“Kaiba.” 

“How'd you get my number?” Seriously, you might have gained a job at the cafe making coffee because of him, but that didn't mean he should have been contacting you. He barely even spoke to you anymore. He simply bought coffee and left, never even waiting for his change. Meanwhile you'd been getting richer and richer off of his "tips". Mr. Kaiba was inadvertently paying for all the books you needed to buy for classes. 

“Some girl at your work gave it to me. Now shut up and listen.” 

You wanted to tell him to piss off and then hang up on him, but the amount of money you'd been making off of him stopped you. College students couldn't afford to be bitchy to their employers, and he was more or less your employer. So you listened to him. 

“I'm too busy to leave my office, and I just fired my secretary. I need someone to run a few minor errands, but mostly I just need you to get down here and keep the coffee pot full. I'll pay you twenty an hour.” 

That was sounding like a pretty sweet deal. “What's the catch?” 

“No catch. Just get down here.” Then the line went dead. 

You'd never been the sort to jump when someone says jump, but hey, it was easy money without having to sell your body. So you packed all your school books and your computer and hightailed it for Kaiba Corp. On the way out, you thought about bringing your coffeepot but decided that he probably had his own. 

What he'd neglected to mention was that he was essentially going to keep you prisoner in his offices for the entire night. Around 1am you tried to leave, and he told you that he wouldn't pay you unless you stayed for the entire time. You'd called him a “fucking asshole” before setting in on the couch in his office. 

After that you fell asleep on his couch. So he was forced to wake you up every single time he needed more coffee. You swore and yelled, and at some point, you tried to bite him, but you kept getting up to make the coffee anyway. Being a broke college student had destroyed your pride. 

When he finally dismissed you, you were tired, your back hurt, and you had classes in a few hours. 

You held out your hand. “Pay up now. I sure as hell didn't do this for my health, by my count you owe me $190.” 

He pulled money out of his pocket and gave you two hundreds. “Keep the extra, but your attitude left much to be desired.” 

“Oh fuck off,” you muttered as you left. “You'd have to pump anyone full of happy pills to keep them nice through all your nonsense.” 

Less than a week later, he'd asked you out, and you told him 'no'. Yet somehow, Seto Kaiba always gets what he wants.


	20. Some Advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just two more chapters after this. Enjoy~

On the way back home, you sat in the back of the limo curled up against Seto's side. He was on the phone with his secretary, checking to see what he'd missed in the last hour while he was with you, and you just enjoyed being able to cuddle up to him again. He'd never really been the sort of man who _cuddled_ , but he was always willing to let you cuddle up to him while he was working, provided you didn't get in the way. 

Then a thought occurred to you. You had no idea what had happened to your bodyguard. You wondered if he'd been the one to tell Seto that you'd been kidnapped, but surely your kidnapper wasn't so stupid that he'd let the bodyguard escape. 

No, he had been fairly stupid. It was a possibility. 

You would have to wait and ask Seto when his call ended. Or at least that was your plan. The limo reached the Kaiba Mansion before Kaiba even got off the phone with his secretary, and when you got out of the car, he didn't follow you. 

You stopped the driver from closing the door and leaned back into the car. “Are you going back to Kaiba Corp?” 

“One minute.” He covered the phone. “I have a lot of work to do, and I'm running late for a meeting.” 

“Oh, okay.” Now wasn't the time to talk to him. “I'll see you later tonight then?” 

“Don't worry, the mansion is completely safe, and Mokuba should be home right now. He'll keep you company.” 

You nodded. “Don't worry about me.” Then you pulled yourself back out of the limo and let the driver close the door. You walked up the steps to the main door and a maid let you in almost immediately. You'd bet money that Mokuba wasn't actually home at the moment. It was a school night, yes, but Seto was always at work and Mokuba knew that the servants wouldn't rat him out. 

It turned out to be good that you hadn't placed money on Mokuba not being home. You found him in the main living room area with some girl sitting on top of him. The TV was running some movie and the lights were off, but both of them were too absorbed in eating each other's faces to notice anything around them. Just to be a jerk, you turned the lights on. 

Mokuba jumped and shoved the girl off his lap and back onto the couch before looking around like a scared rabbit. He wasn't relieved to see you. “Where's Seto?” 

“Work.” You were grinning like the cat that ate the canary. “So are you not supposed to bring girls home? Or are you not supposed to be eating their faces off?” This wasn't the first time you'd caught Mokuba breaking one of Seto's rules, and it wouldn't be the last. 

“I'm not doing anything wrong.” Mokuba sat back casually and turned away from you. “I was just startled.” In Mokuba's defense, he was an excellent liar. If you didn't know Seto as well as you did, you might have even believed him. 

Except you knew Seto, and you doubted that he would appreciate his brother bringing random girls home. “Use a condom or you're dead.” Maybe not the best parenting skills, but you knew that if you ordered Mokuba to take her home he'd just do whatever he was about to do in the backseat of his car. You turned back off the lights before calling out one more warning. “I'll be making copies of the security tapes for blackmail purposes.” 

As you walked away, you knew that Mokuba was probably torn between loving you for leaving him alone and annoyed that you were going to be able to blackmail him. That was good. It kept the brat on his toes. 

Meanwhile, you had some schoolwork that you could finish while you waited for Seto to come home.


	21. Make it Somewhere

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter left~  
> It's more of an epilogue though.

Seto came back home to discover that you'd taken over his office. You were sitting at his desk with your laptop in front of you. You had an open notebook and textbook sitting nearby and there were various other texts sitting across his desk. 

“Did you want to work in here?” You hadn't expected him to be home so soon. It was barely ten, and you had the impression that he had a lot of work to catch up on. 

“I was looking for you. Why are you in here?” 

“It's a long story, but nobody is allowed in here so I knew I'd be left alone.” It was true. Seto's office was completely off limits. The staff didn't even clean it. So you figured it would be the perfect place to get some schoolwork done. 

He didn't say anything but his expression clearly asked why you would be sitting in his office when you knew that he didn't let people in there. 

“Don't worry, I didn't move anything.” 

He seemed mollified by that and stood there in silence, watching as you started putting your schoolwork together. 

“Do you know what happened to my bodyguard?” 

“He said something about being held by two guys. I didn't listen to his excuses. He's fired.” 

“Oh.” You wondered what you were supposed to do about going out now. 

“I'm looking into getting you a professional bodyguard, but that'll take time.” 

“The other guy wasn't a professional?” That was weird. It wasn't like Kaiba to hire incompetent people. 

“He was a guard in my employ who claimed to have bodyguarding experience. I assigned him to you as a temporary solution. I won't be doing that again.” 

You didn't say anything. There wasn't really much else you wanted to know. Your schoolwork was all packed so you started moving it out of the way. 

Seto took the bag from you. “Where are you putting this?” 

“Back in our room.” 

You trailed behind Seto as he carried your stuff back into your room. There was still a lot to get done, and neither of you had really addressed the matter of the world thinking that you were engaged yet, but your relationship was starting to feel comfortable again. That was all that mattered. With him by your side, you felt like you could deal with anything. 

Then the two of you encountered Mokuba trying to sneak a girl somewhere. 

“Mokuba.” Seto growled, and you knew what was about to happen. 

You didn't want any part of it. You grabbed your bag from Seto and took off. “I'll be in our room!” you called back to them. 

You might be able to handle anything, but you would still leave Mokuba for Seto to deal with.


	22. All We Are Is What We Intend To Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this fic. ): I hope everyone over here has enjoyed it! Here are the original author's notes from the other site it was on:
> 
> Oh man~ The epilogue!  
> This is totally dedicated to Celestial Sakura because she's been leaving me super awesome reviews on _every single chapter_ ever since the beginning. :D Without that sort of support I don't think I could have updated this daily for the first 19 chapters.  
>  A special thanks also goes out to Dark Cerey, who has been leaving me consistant reviews from the fourth chapter on. :D  
> And of course, I have to thank all of you who left me reviews throughout this fic. I respond to all of them individually but once again, thanks for all the support and feedback!  
> I hope you guys all enjoy the ending~ I may have gotten too carried away with the Mokuba/Reader relationship for this fic, but it was TOO much fun to write. I couldn't stop myself.

**A few months later.**

You were sitting in front of your vanity, trying to apply makeup, when someone tentatively knocked on the door. It was probably a maid who was trying not to get on Seto's bad side. You honestly couldn't blame them for living in fear of him. He fired them for barely any reason at all. 

“Come in!” you called out. Honestly you hoped that they didn't need your opinion on something. Over the past two months, you'd somehow taken over the job of managing the mansion. You didn't know when the staff had decided that they could go to you for executive decisions rather than Seto, but you understood why they preferred you. Seto seemed to prefer this system as well. The first few times you'd asked him for his opinion, he'd basically told you to just do whatever you wanted. 

He was just lucky that you didn't actually want to paint the walls neon colors. It was a tempting thought, but you lived in the mansion and had to look at the walls too. 

When Mokuba walked into the room, you were surprised that it wasn't a maid. When you realized that he was shuffling his feet hesitantly, you knew that something was wrong. 

You tried to open the conversation with a joke. “Please tell me you didn't break something." The joke didn't help, and Mokuba just awkwardly shuffled his feet. 

“Can I talk to you?” 

All you could think was that you hoped he hadn't done something Seto was going to kill him over. You'd made it an informal rule to not get involved in matters between the two brothers. Seto was responsible for raising Mokuba. You just stepped in and occasionally gave out bad advice. (Or, at least, what Seto considered bad advice. You personally thought that your advice was realistic.) 

“Sure. Seto is going to be late so I have plenty of time.” You noted that Mokuba was already dressed in his tuxedo. His hair still looked like an untamed mess so you knew you would probably end up styling it for him. 

Mokuba sat down on the edge of your bed, and you turned in your chair so that you could maintain eye contact. Mokuba was always shy when it came to important subjects. Probably because he wasn't used to having anyone other than Seto that he could actually talk to. Heck, he would probably still be confiding in only Seto if you didn't happen to be more accessible. Seto was always at work, and you had way too much time on your hands. 

“I like this girl,” he finally blurted out. 

Well that wasn't new at all. He liked different girls every week. You kept your lack of surprise to yourself. You wanted him to be able to continue on uninterrupted. He'd get to the point... hopefully. 

“She won't go out with me.” 

You waited for him to continue on, but apparently, this was where you were supposed to chime in. “You've never been turned down before?” You turned away and looked for a black hair tie. His hair was too messy, and he was taking too long to open up to you. You were going to have to tie Mokuba's hair back for him before the party. 

“No, but I really like her.” 

You found a hair tie and walked over to Mokuba. “Face away from me. I'm gonna deal with your hair.” He turned away, and you began brushing his hair. “Did she tell you why she wouldn't go out with you?” 

“She said she didn't want to be another notch on my belt.” 

“Smart girl.” 

Mokuba pulled away from you so that he could glare at you. You could see that your words had wounded him, but he needed to face the facts if he actually liked the girl. “Don't give me that look.” You shoved his head back into place so you could continue pulling his hair back. “You're a _whore_ Mokuba. Seto would tell you the exact same thing if he knew how many different girls you bring home. It sounds like this girl knows that you're a whore. Now the real question is whether she would be another notch on your belt. Are you interested in her just because she turned you down?” 

Mokuba was silent for a moment, and you hoped that you weren't being unnecessarily cruel. The silence stretched on as you continued to brush his hair. You were twisting the tie around his hair to keep in in place by the time he finally responded to your question. 

“I don't know.” 

“Well, I suggest you answer that question before you decide you want to chase after her. I'm done with your hair by the way.” 

He stood up, and the sad kicked puppy look that he was wearing was too much for you. It tugged your heartstrings, and you sighed, hoping that you hadn't just seriously messed up. 

“Look, you're a great kid Mokuba. People genuinely like you. They want to be your friend, and they flock to you like moths to a flame. In that way, you're the exact opposite of Seto. If you really like this girl, I'm sure you won't have a problem convincing her to date you. She probably already likes you too.” You reached up and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at you. “But you can't pursue her if you don't really like her Mokuba. That's not fair to her. So think about it, and if you decide you want a relationship with her, a _real_ relationship, then chase after her.” You pulled him into a hug, doing your best to not mess up your makeup. 

“Think about it ok?” you told him once he pulled away. 

Mokuba nodded sullenly and left the room. You looked at the clock and realized that you were running late. Thankfully, Seto was never on time for any of these parties. “I should still have plenty of time to get ready,” you commented to yourself. 

Arms wrapped around your waist. “Why aren't you ready yet?” 

You turned in his arms to give him a quick peck on the lips. “Because your little brother demanded my attention.” 

“Did he try to get out of going tonight?” Seto frowned, and you could tell that he was thinking about how much **he** wanted to be able to get out of going to this stupid party. 

“No. He's actually ready. I even managed to tame his hair. He just wanted to talk about some girl.” A girl whose name he hadn't mentioned, but it didn't matter, you would either see her around in the future or you wouldn't. 

Seto's lips curled up at the edges. It was barely perceptible but something you'd come to realize was his smile. A smile that only graced his face when he was highly amused or incredibly pleased. 

“What?” you demanded. You wanted to know what was making him smile. 

“It's nice that Mokuba has you. It always worried me that he never really had a mother.” 

“I'm fairly sure your mother wouldn't have called him a whore.” You were actually feeling pretty bad about that, so you hoped that Mokuba didn't see you as a mother-figure. You weren't actually sure which was worse: a bad mother figure or none at all. 

He looked thoughtful for a second. “Why **did** you call him a whore?” 

“Because he was acting like one.” 

Seto sighed. Mokuba might like to think that he was fooling his brother, but Seto was at least aware of Mokuba's behavior even if he didn't know the exact amount of girls that Mokuba went through. “At least he has a woman's perspective now.” 

Seto had a point there, and you wondered what sort of advice Mokuba would have received from his brother. Probably something along the lines of, 'You shouldn't waste your time with girls when you have school and tests to focus on.' You frowned, wondering if maybe you should be giving Mokuba that sort of advice as well. You always worried that you would mess up when it came to him. 

Perhaps sensing your thoughts, Seto kissed your forehead. “You're a good influence on him.” 

“I don't think—” you tried to protest before Seto cut you off. 

“Ever since you've moved in, Mokuba has been less reckless, my household staff is more efficient, and the coffee tastes better.” You had to grin at that. “I'm never letting you leave.” His hand reached into his pocket and emerged with a box. He opened the box to reveal a diamond ring and your jaw dropped open. “Marry me,” he demanded as he slid the ring onto your finger. 

“Yes!” A demand didn't require a response, but 'yes' was the only word that you could even think at the moment. You wrapped your arms around his neck and kissed him before a sense of horror began to descend upon you. 

“But what about the media? The public?” The entire world had just recently stopped commenting on your lack of a ring. The events of a few months back had been forgotten. Digging them back up wouldn't be good for anyone. 

“Who cares about them? They're not invited to the wedding.” 

When he kissed you again, you were full of happiness. He was right. They didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that he wanted to be with you forever.


End file.
